A few weeks ago, I saw an episode of South Park where someone murdered someone else while in Hell. My immediate question was "Wait, what happens when you die in Hell?" My question was answered when the murdered character came back to Hell unhurt a few minutes later. Someone asked him, "Hey, didn't you die?" His answer was, "Where was I going to go - Detroit?"
I've not died even one time, but I went to Detroit. No one seems to have anything nice to say about this city. In fact, everyone made grimaces whenever I told them I was headed here for a business trip. Even sitting at the airport, a nice old lady on her way home to Sarasota, Florida looked at me sympathetically. What's so bad about Detroit, besides the fact that all anyone knows about it is based on an Eminem movie? An old city forgotten and not restored, the Motor City is covered in a thick layer of exhaust and exhaustion.
I flew in on a Thursday night where all I could see below me was the lights of anonymous houses in anonymous cities. I saw a big city that sprawled out in all directions, and then the lights suddenly stopped along some long invisible border and all was dark below. I realized that I was over a lake, not a Great Lake for nothing, and tried to think back to what I should do in the event of a water landing. I could see the city behind, growing ever distant, and then I could see more lights ahead, another city with similar abrupt borders growing ever closer. Water, water, everywhere.
The captain soon announced that we were beginning our slow descent into Hell, no, Detroit, but all I could see were lights, yellow, green, red. I couldn't see the decrepit buildings, the shady crime areas, the drug deals, the sadness, the loneliness, the depression, the blues that go with every city, just the yellows, the greens, the reds. Detroit twinkled at me, and I felt hopeful.
At night, from 50,000 feet and counting down, Detroit is beautiful.
2 comments:
What were you before you were alive? That is what you return to when you die. Hell is simply the grave. (Hades in Greek and sheoul in Hebrew.) There is no thought or consciousness there. Another word for hell in greek is gehenna, which was the city dump outside Jerusalem.
At the risk of hijacking Sandra's blog and turning it into a forum for debating her rhetorical questions...
I guess the Bible contradicts itself.
On the one hand, it says, "All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return" (Ecclesiastes 3:20).
On the other hand, it also says, "They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Revelation 20:10).
Is God confused? Or are we?
Post a Comment